Work has never been so much fun, as we found out while working on the recently completed Silver Knight illustration for US gaming site iPwn.com.
Asked to create a recognisable character that would encompass the spirit of gaming, we firstly set about determining the genre. With the success of games like World of Warcraft, fantasy seemed the best choice, allowing us a large variety of character archetypes to choose from. As a hero was going to be a strong symbol for the site we set our sights on developing a Knight image that showcased the battle-harden look of a serious gamer’s character.
Starting with a few rough sketches to ensure the right stance of the character, a more detailed rough was developed which outlined major armour and weaponry components. Once happy with the pose and compositional elements, simple colour backgrounds of each main component were laid down to ensure colour consistency. Highlights and shadows were then overlaid ensuring light source was maintained over all areas. Finally, after the character had been rendered in a pristine state, indentations, marks and scuffing was added to armour and weapons to enhance the realistic look we were aiming for.
The title was then added as a separate element rendered in a consistent style using a large bold font for readability. All work was completed in Photoshop CS3 using a Wacom Tablet.
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